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The Highway of the Atom |
eBook Available
The surprising story of the atomic bomb's origins in Canada's North.
A subarctic mine on the far eastern shores of Great Bear Lake provided Canadian uranium for the bombs detonated over Japan in August 1945. However, a complete history of Canada's involvement in the Manhattan Project and the development of the atomic bomb has been thwarted by restrictions on classified documents.
The Highway of the Atom overcomes these restrictions in an innovative and unconventional history that assembles a narrative from fragments - interviews, indigenous stories, archives, and physical remains - while questioning whether it is possible to grasp the past by sifting through what remains. Uncovering the story of the radioactive ore's route from mine to weapon of mass destruction, Peter van Wyck considers the legacy of this history for the Dene community and inquires into trauma, landscape, disaster, and memory.
From the fur trade routes of the far North, to the deserts of New Mexico and wartime Japan, The Highway of the Atom weaves together crucial missing pieces about the beginning of the Atomic Age in startling and unexpected ways.
The Highway of the Atom overcomes these restrictions in an innovative and unconventional history that assembles a narrative from fragments - interviews, indigenous stories, archives, and physical remains - while questioning whether it is possible to grasp the past by sifting through what remains. Uncovering the story of the radioactive ore's route from mine to weapon of mass destruction, Peter van Wyck considers the legacy of this history for the Dene community and inquires into trauma, landscape, disaster, and memory.
From the fur trade routes of the far North, to the deserts of New Mexico and wartime Japan, The Highway of the Atom weaves together crucial missing pieces about the beginning of the Atomic Age in startling and unexpected ways.
Details
288 Pages, 6 x 9
20 photos
ISBN 9780773537835
October 2010
Formats: Cloth, eBook
"The Highway of the Atom is a tour de force and belongs on the same shelf with Kenzaburo Oe's Hiroshima Notes, John Hersey's Hiroshima, and Richard Rhodes' The Making of the Atomic Bomb. The author has read everything there is to read, spent countless hours in archives, and visited many of the places and people referred to in the book, though he never lets his research dominate the story. The book contains so many telling phrases and telling insights that the reader will want to concentrate not only on what van Wyck is saying but also on how well he is saying it." John O'Brian, Department of Art History, Visual Art, and Theory, University of British Columbia
"The book itself is a glorious, a glorious work of art." The Review of Arts, Literature, Philosophy and the Humanities
"The Highway of the Atom is far more than a history of colonial deceit and ethical disaster; it is also a wake-up call for Canadians who need to know that the deceit and the disaster are continuing right now." Topia
"The Highway of the Atom should be read as a warning that witnesses toatomic past and their memories are in danger of being forgotten." Lindsey A. Freeman, The New School for Social Research
"The book itself is a glorious, a glorious work of art." The Review of Arts, Literature, Philosophy and the Humanities
"The Highway of the Atom is far more than a history of colonial deceit and ethical disaster; it is also a wake-up call for Canadians who need to know that the deceit and the disaster are continuing right now." Topia
"The Highway of the Atom should be read as a warning that witnesses toatomic past and their memories are in danger of being forgotten." Lindsey A. Freeman, The New School for Social Research
Peter C. van Wyck is an associate professor in the Department of Communications Studies at Concordia University.
Images / xi
Acknowledgments / xiii
1
1.01 Field Note: Great Bear Lake - 30 July 2003 / 3
1.02 Archive / 6
1.03 Tracking Stories / 8
1.04 History / 12
1.05 Writing / 17
1.06 Map / 18
1.07 Theory / 22
1.08 Field Note: Apology - November 2002 / 24
1.09 The Route / 25
1.10 A Gentle Compulsiveness / 33
1.11 Material / 35
1.12 Village of Widows / 38
2
2.01 Punctum / 45
2.02 Rice Christians - Who knew? / 50
2.03 Cargo Cult / 51
2.04 Magic / 52
2.05 Field Note: Two Contrasting Figures - May 2003 / 54
2.06 Field Note: Tulita - 6 August 2003 / 58
2.07 The Idea of North / 61
2.08 Naming / 65
2.09 Field Note: Yellowknife, Explorer Hotel - August 2003 / 69
2.10 Field Note: Northern Metaphor - Norway Point, February 2005 / 71
2.11 Field Note: Landscape - Yellowknife, August 2007 / 73
2.12 Field Note: Tigullapaa - Nuuk, Greenland, 25 August 2008 / 75
2.13 Field Note: Norway Point - April 2009 / 76
2.14 Abduction / 78
2.15 Birth Order / 82
2.16 Vision / 83
2.17 Meanwhile / 85
2.18 Radium / 87
2.19 Sum and Remainder / 93
3
3.01 Finding Aids / 97
3.02 Field Note: Cobalt-Bloom and Copper-Green - Echo Bay, 2003 / 101
3.03 Pitchblende / 104
3.04 Congo / 111
3.05 White Myth / 113
3.06 Oh Canada - More Silence / 116
3.07 Field Note: Cameron Bay - August 2003 / 119
3.08 Field Note: Bewilderment - Déline, 2003 / 123
3.09 Field Note: Grey Goose Inn, Déline - 25 July 2003 / 128
3.10 Field Note: Arctic Circle (66°32_) - 1 August 2005 / 131
3.11 Chorography / 135
3.12 Field Note: Port Radium - 30 July 2003 / 138
3.13 Field Note: Déline - August 2003 / 143
4
4.01 The Stones Are Speaking Now / 149
4.02 Phantoms / 153
4.03 Alibi / 155
4.04 Lieux de Mémoire: A Mnemonics of Catastrophe / 157
4.05 Abduction and the Accident / 160
4.06 Shipwreck with Raven / 161
4.07 Field Note: New Mexico - February 2004 / 163
4.08 From Figure to Metaphor / 165
4.09 Spectator / 167
4.10 Ecology / 173
4.11 Story / 177
4.12 Erasure, Redux / 182
4.13 Equivalence / 186
4.14 Field Note: Black River - 3 August 2005 / 189
4.15 Field Note: Mackenzie River - 3 August 2005 / 192
4.16 Field Notes in the Margins / 198
4.17 Field Note: Tulita (Fort Norman) - 6 August 2005 / 200
4.18 Field Note: Tsiigehtchic (Arctic Red River) - 6 August 2005 / 202
4.19 Problems / 204
4.20 Field Note: (The Gift) Déline - February 2003 / 205
Notes to part 1 / 207
Notes to part 2 / 214
Notes to part 3 / 220
Notes to part 4 / 225
Bibliography / 235
Image credits / 257
Index / 259
Acknowledgments / xiii
1
1.01 Field Note: Great Bear Lake - 30 July 2003 / 3
1.02 Archive / 6
1.03 Tracking Stories / 8
1.04 History / 12
1.05 Writing / 17
1.06 Map / 18
1.07 Theory / 22
1.08 Field Note: Apology - November 2002 / 24
1.09 The Route / 25
1.10 A Gentle Compulsiveness / 33
1.11 Material / 35
1.12 Village of Widows / 38
2
2.01 Punctum / 45
2.02 Rice Christians - Who knew? / 50
2.03 Cargo Cult / 51
2.04 Magic / 52
2.05 Field Note: Two Contrasting Figures - May 2003 / 54
2.06 Field Note: Tulita - 6 August 2003 / 58
2.07 The Idea of North / 61
2.08 Naming / 65
2.09 Field Note: Yellowknife, Explorer Hotel - August 2003 / 69
2.10 Field Note: Northern Metaphor - Norway Point, February 2005 / 71
2.11 Field Note: Landscape - Yellowknife, August 2007 / 73
2.12 Field Note: Tigullapaa - Nuuk, Greenland, 25 August 2008 / 75
2.13 Field Note: Norway Point - April 2009 / 76
2.14 Abduction / 78
2.15 Birth Order / 82
2.16 Vision / 83
2.17 Meanwhile / 85
2.18 Radium / 87
2.19 Sum and Remainder / 93
3
3.01 Finding Aids / 97
3.02 Field Note: Cobalt-Bloom and Copper-Green - Echo Bay, 2003 / 101
3.03 Pitchblende / 104
3.04 Congo / 111
3.05 White Myth / 113
3.06 Oh Canada - More Silence / 116
3.07 Field Note: Cameron Bay - August 2003 / 119
3.08 Field Note: Bewilderment - Déline, 2003 / 123
3.09 Field Note: Grey Goose Inn, Déline - 25 July 2003 / 128
3.10 Field Note: Arctic Circle (66°32_) - 1 August 2005 / 131
3.11 Chorography / 135
3.12 Field Note: Port Radium - 30 July 2003 / 138
3.13 Field Note: Déline - August 2003 / 143
4
4.01 The Stones Are Speaking Now / 149
4.02 Phantoms / 153
4.03 Alibi / 155
4.04 Lieux de Mémoire: A Mnemonics of Catastrophe / 157
4.05 Abduction and the Accident / 160
4.06 Shipwreck with Raven / 161
4.07 Field Note: New Mexico - February 2004 / 163
4.08 From Figure to Metaphor / 165
4.09 Spectator / 167
4.10 Ecology / 173
4.11 Story / 177
4.12 Erasure, Redux / 182
4.13 Equivalence / 186
4.14 Field Note: Black River - 3 August 2005 / 189
4.15 Field Note: Mackenzie River - 3 August 2005 / 192
4.16 Field Notes in the Margins / 198
4.17 Field Note: Tulita (Fort Norman) - 6 August 2005 / 200
4.18 Field Note: Tsiigehtchic (Arctic Red River) - 6 August 2005 / 202
4.19 Problems / 204
4.20 Field Note: (The Gift) Déline - February 2003 / 205
Notes to part 1 / 207
Notes to part 2 / 214
Notes to part 3 / 220
Notes to part 4 / 225
Bibliography / 235
Image credits / 257
Index / 259
Selected entry
AAUP Book Jacket and Journal Award
AAUP Book Jacket and Journal Award (2011)
Shortlisted
Canada Prize in the Social Sciences
Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences (2012)
Winner
Gertrude J. Robinson Book Award
Canadian Communication Association (2011)
AAUP Book Jacket and Journal Award
AAUP Book Jacket and Journal Award (2011)
Shortlisted
Canada Prize in the Social Sciences
Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences (2012)
Winner
Gertrude J. Robinson Book Award
Canadian Communication Association (2011)
